Its hard to believe that its been a decade since Persona 5 was released for the PlayStation 4. Persona 5 was developed by P-Studio and published by Atlus and was the official sequel to the Persona 4 game which came out back in 2008. Persona 5 was one of the few good things to have come out of 2016 which was considered to be one of the worst years of the past decade or so aside from 2020. Persona 5 had a darker tone than its prequel and featured Ren Amamiya aka Joker as the main protagonist. In the eyes many Joker was a more iconic main character than Yu Narukami from Persona 4. Joker had somewhat of a tragic backstory which involved him being on probation after moving to Toyko for an assault crime that he was falsely accused of. In Persona 5 Joker was a second year transfer student at Shujin Academy and the leader of Phantom Thieves of Hearts who wanted to repair the damage done to his reputation.

The main antagonist of Persona 5 was a corrupt politician who lusted for power named Masayoshi Shido who masterminded the conspiracy against Joker which lead to his arrest. Persona 5 was a linear JRPG which had five different endings depending on how the game is played. Persona 5 also allowed players to utilize up to nine different characters including Joker, Ann, Haru, Ryuji, Makoto, Futaba, Yusuke, Akechi and Morgana. In Persona 5 Morgana played a significant role in the game and considered the main deuteragonist. Morgana not only introduce players to the Metaverse in Persona 5 but she helps players navigate though the eight main storyline Palaces in the game. Persona 5 had a unique look due to its polished comic book theme aesthetic. Persona 5 also utilized turn-based combat gameplay which made it feel more like a traditional RPG during a time where action role-playing gameplay was starting to become more popular.

The art style and fast-paced gameplay of Persona 5 was both strong positives. Also, the gameplay for Persona 5 felt like a major step up compared to the other entries from the 2000’s. The original version of Persona 5 reached around three million copies in sales. Despite, its commercial success many would argue that Persona 5 was overshadowed by Final Fantasy XV. In 2016, Final Fantasy ended up selling around ten million copies cross different platforms like PS4 and Xbox One making it one of most successful games of 2016. Persona 5 even got a Royal Edition back in 2020 which many considered to be better than the original game from 2016. Persona 5 was not only critically acclaimed but it also managed to gain a massive cult following within the past decade. The rebellious anti-establishment theme of Persona 5 made the game more appealing than your average RPG and its still addictive ten years later.